Rise of the Kitten of Doom
by Skylark Starflower
Summary: Zane sneaks a kitten on board the Bounty, but all is not what it seems... (Enjoy some silliness brought to you by ShinyShiny9 and myself!)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Neither of us own Ninjago. Not like you really thought we did, though, right? :B

Hello! I hope you enjoy this crazy thing ShinyShiny9 and I wrote. :) All you really need to know is that it's set after season 4. Off you go now. Read on!

 **"Rise of the Kitten of Doom"  
By ShinyShiny9 and Skylark Starflower  
**

 **Chapter 1**

Zane unsummoned his dragon, dropping to the deck of the Destiny's Bounty. Something wriggled in the front of his gi, and he clutched his hands to it, trying to keep it still. The last thing he needed was for it to get loose on the ship.

He couldn't see anyone else around. This was fine with him, because he didn't want anyone else to know what he was up to just yet. Especially Sensei Wu. He made his way to the kitchen and began rooting around in the cupboards. The lump in his gi began to squirm again.

As he was distracted with his task, Jay walked into the room.

"Hey, Zane, what's up?" he asked, startling the nindroid.

"Oh, hello, Jay." Zane immediately grabbed at the thing he was hiding in his clothes, in an attempt to keep it hidden. Unfortunately, all he managed to do was draw Jay's attention to it.

"What's that you've got?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing?" Zane wasn't a very good liar. It didn't help that the kitten in his shirt chose that moment to pop its fluffy little head out, accompanied by a tiny meow.

"You guys?" Lloyd poked his head into the kitchen. "Did I just hear a—oh my gosh, a cat!"

He shot eagerly across the kitchen to take the tiny furry creature from Zane's hands, ruffling its ears gently. "It's so thin! What do kittens eat? Can we give it milk?"

Attracted by the hubbub and meowing, Kai showed up in the kitchen next.

"Is that a kitten?" He looked at the new arrival with dismay. "Uh-oh. That can't stay here, Nya has cat allergies."

"But we can't just throw it back out in the streets!" protested Lloyd.

"Seems the cat is out of the bag, as they say . . ." Zane smiled sheepishly before turning back to what he'd been doing earlier, now free of the squirming bundle. "I am sorry, Kai, but I couldn't just leave her out there to starve, and no one else would take her," he continued as he searched the cupboard. Finding what he was looking for, he took one of the saucers down and placed it on the floor. From his pocket, he produced a small carton of formula specially made for kittens and poured a little into the dish. "The man at the pet store suggested this would be best for her," he told Lloyd.

"Yeah," chimed in Jay, "despite what people think, cats are actually lactose intolerant. It can make them really sick." He paused for a moment as everyone fixed him with surprised looks. "What, I'm not allowed to know anything about cats? Sheesh." He reached out to give the kitten a pat.

From somewhere in the distance Nya sneezed.

"Woah," said Lloyd. "You weren't kidding about the allergies."

"This is bad," groaned Kai. "Seriously. Once we visited an aunt who had owned a cat two years before, and Nya started sneezing like crazy. Her eyes got all itchy and red, her nose started running, she wasn't exactly in the best mood because of all that . . . " He shook his head.

"Maybe her allergies were just worse because she was little, and now she's outgrown them? . . . " said Lloyd without much hope.

While the ninja were trying to figure out what to do, the kitten was keeping busy. Having finished all the kitten formula, she scampered across the kitchen floor, grappled her way onto a chair, then sprang to the tabletop. On the tabletop was a bowl of Violet-Berry Soup Cole had been making, undergoing the traditional three-day aging procedure. The kitten propped her front paws against the edge of the bowl, interested.

Lloyd took notice too late.

"Somebody stop that kitten!" he shouted, just as the kitten in question took a daring leap and plopped headfirst into the soup.

The colour seemed to drain a little from Jay's face. "Oh man, we need to get this cat off the ship before Cole finds it." He paused as yet another sneeze echoed through the Bounty. "And before Nya has a full out allergy attack."

Zane hurried over to the bowl to fish out a rather miserable, sopping wet and purple stained kitten. She squirmed about in his grip, trying to get loose, clearly unhappy about her current predicament. "I think she may need a bath," he said. "But Jay is right, I should not have brought her here . . ."

"But where else can we take her?" asked Lloyd, starting to fill up the sink to wash the kitten. "Do we know anyone who might like cats?"

"Maybe Lou would want a pet," suggested Kai. "But we'd have to call him and ask, and only Cole knows his number. So we'd have to tell Cole about the kitten."

A bit of silence as the others regarded the kitten, still dripping with Cole's soup.

"Let's get her cleaned up first," said Lloyd.

The kitten did not approve of bath time. She struggled and mewed pitifully all throughout, splashing water every which way. As if the commotion wasn't enough already, Nya suddenly appeared in the doorway, sneezing.

"You guys, what's going on? Suddenly I can't stop sn—"

Just at this moment the kitten broke free from Zane's grip, leaped from the sink, and made a desperate bid for freedom. Nya yelped in surprise as a tiny soggy still-slightly-lavender furball shot past her and disappeared down the hall.

"What was that?!"

Zane was about to chase after the kitten, but he pulled up short when Nya appeared. For a moment, he stared at her, panicked, before dropping his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, Nya. I didn't know you were allergic when I brought her here."

"Brought who here? Wait, was that—"

"Yeah, Zane brought a kitten on board, and we should probably go catch it before Cole does," interrupted Jay, as he slipped past her into the hall. He was about to start searching when he himself was brought up short by someone standing before him.

Sensei Wu's expression was neutral. In his hands, he held the kitten. "Someone care to explain what's going on here?"

"It's, uh . . . " Lloyd gulped. "Zane found the kitten in the streets, and nobody would take her, and we can't figure out who to give her to, but we have to do something because Nya has cat allergies."

Nya sneezed in agreement.

"Awwww, she's so cute, though," she said, sniffling. "I wish my allergies weren't messing this up . . . "

"There are more serious problems at hand," said Wu grimly, holding the kitten away slightly as it batted at his beard. "This is no ordinary kitten."

"It's not?" Lloyd looked curiously at the tiny cat. "It looks pretty normal. A little thin, but—"

"It is anything but normal!" interrupted Wu. "It is the kitten of prophecy! Throughout the ages the ancient manuscripts have foretold the coming of this cat. See, the mark upon its ear, and this other upon its paw."

"Oh, come on, Sensei. Quit pulling our legs," said Jay, crossing his arms. "What's she supposed to do, become the greatest mouser ever? Why would that even be important enough to write a prophecy for?"

"Jay . . ." Wu started, but then his attention was drawn to Zane. The nindroid was fiddling with his hands and staring at the floor, his expression unreadable. "Zane? Is something bothering you?"

"You mean this was preordained? I thought I was just being a nuisance for bringing her here . . ." Zane replied.

"Not a nuisance, no," said Wu. "In fact, it is good that you brought her here. Now that we know of her existence, we can attempt to prepare for the prophecies' fulfillment."

"Seriously, what ARE these prophecies? It's a kitten!" said Kai.

"But this kitten," said Wu, "is the harbinger of doom. It is prophesied that wherever she goes, strange and unpredictable calamities will follow! Corvus the Elder foretold, the very cry of this creature will bring misfortune raining down from the sky."

The kitten herself had been struggling to reach Wu's beard all this time. Frustrated, she opened her small jaws wide, showing off her adorable baby teeth, and gave a tiny but vehement "Mrowrrrrr!"

"We are doomed," whispered Wu.


	2. Chapter 2

So hey there! Welcome to chapter two! I forgot to mention last time that this story is already all written, and I'm planning on posting one chapter every Sunday until it's all up! So there's that!

I'm not all that good at replying to comments (I'm too shy for my own good sometimes), so sorry about that. But they are all appreciated and Shiny and I love hearing from all y'all! :) That being said, here's chapter two for you lovely people!

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

The ninja all stood in silence for a moment, waiting and casting nervous looks at the ceiling. Nothing much happened.

"Well, uhh . . . that was anticlimactic," said Kai.

Just then the front door slammed. A soggy and thoroughly bewildered Cole joined the group.

"Anyone care to tell me," he said, "why it just started raining Violet-Berry Soup outside?"

Jay couldn't help grinning. "I always did say Cole's cooking was a misfortune."

"Apparently I have found the Kitten of Doom," Zane replied with a sheepish grin. He turned his attention back to Wu. "Is there anything we can do to stop this? No one kitten should have this much power."

At that moment, there came an angry screech at the door. Zane excused himself before hurrying over to open it, letting in his falcon. The metallic bird bounced inside, its sides running with purple liquid. It quickly shook off before flying up to perch on Zane's shoulder, looking quite annoyed by its own soup bath. Zane closed the door and returned to the group, the falcon riding with him.

The minute the falcon laid eyes on the Kitten of Doom, it gave an unearthly screech. The kitten, seeing the falcon, gave a similar yowl of fury and began to thrash with its front paws, trying to get at the metal bird. Meanwhile the falcon stretched its head down from Zane's shoulder and flapped its wings wildly, hissing and clacking its beak.

"What's going on?" asked Cole, amazed.

"I think robotic falcons must be a natural enemy of Kittens of Doom!" said Lloyd. "The falcon must sense the kitten's evil nature."

"But which one would win in a fight?" said Kai.

Just then the kitten scratched at Wu's hand viciously. Startled, Wu dropped the tiny cat, which leaped to the floor and attempted to clamber Zane's leg. It didn't have much success, since Zane's leg was made of slippery titanium, but the falcon obligingly leaped down to meet the cat. The two creatures tumbled off across the floor, tussling and yowling furiously.

"I didn't mean we should actually try to find out!" sputtered Kai, as everyone rushed to pull the two animals apart.

After several moments of furious fighting, Zane finally managed to get a hand on his falcon, pulling the bird away from the kitten. He held it tightly, wings pinned to its sides, even as it continued to thrash wildly in an attempt to get loose and continue the battle.

The kitten, meanwhile, was scratching and biting at anyone who came too close, making her difficult to catch. She rounded on Zane, still hissing and spitting at the falcon. The bird returned her screams in kind.

Suddenly, someone dashed into the room carrying a large wicker basket. No one had noticed when Nya had slipped away from the group to fetch it. She proceeded to surprise the kitten, grabbing her by the scruff of the neck and quickly depositing her into the basket. She then tied it off with a length of rope. "There," she said, "that should take care of that." She sneezed again, smiling, before turning her attention to Wu. "What do we do with her now?"

"The prophecies foretold of a possible savior as well," said Wu. "On the same eve that the Kitten of Doom was spawned from the darkest corners of evil, a Puppy of Rescue would spawn elsewhere, to wander the world as a helpless, lonely creature. If we could find this puppy in time, and bring it together with the kitten, they would neutralize each other's effects and possibly save the world."

"But how would we find it?" asked Cole. "There must be thousands and thousands of puppies in Ninjago!"

Now that the kitten was trapped and out of sight, the falcon calmed down. Zane released it and it went back to perching peacefully on his shoulder. "Does it say anything about what breed it would be? Or if it would have any specific markings to look for? That would certainly help narrow it down a bit," he said.

"Yeah, a bit," snorted Jay sarcastically. "So that would narrow it down from what? A bazillion dogs to maybe just a million?"

"Maybe if you spli—" Nya broke off with another sneeze. "Sorry, maybe if you split into groups, that would help the search go faster?"

"And we could put out advertisements or something!" said Lloyd. "If you find a puppy that looks like so-and-so, tell someone on the Bounty! Like lost-puppy posters, only we didn't lose the puppy."

Nya sneezed again, holding the wicker basket out to Kai.

"If you're going out in groups to look for that puppy, could somebody please take the kitten with you? It's adorable and all, but I don't know how long I can take this."

Most of the others edged away, unwilling to tote along a misfortune-bringing feline.

For a moment, everyone stood there, no one moving to take the basket, not even Kai. Then Zane stepped forward and took it. "I brought her here so I suppose that makes it my responsibility to look after her now."

The falcon flapped its wings in agitation, but didn't flip out again. Zane reached up to give it a pat on the head. The falcon seemed to accept his peace offering, settling down.

"That's great, but we still don't know what this puppy we're looking for even looks like," said Jay.

"I'm afraid the prophecies aren't much help in that regard," replied Wu. "It doesn't give a breed. It does state, however, that the Puppy of Rescue will have two white socks on its front paws, lopped ears and, and I quote, 'a waggly tail'." The old man shrugged.

Jay slapped his forehead. "Wonderful."

"Wait, wait, this narrows it down a whole lot!" said Nya excitedly.

"It does?" Lloyd blinked.

"It has a waggly tail!"

"Uhhh, Nya, I think most puppies probably have—"

"No, no, it's like in the song!" To the others' disconcertion, Nya started to sing. "'How much is that doggie in the window? The one with the waggly tail? How much is—'"

"We get it sis, we get it," said Kai hastily.

"So . . . the puppy will be in a window?" said Cole.

"Probably in a pet store!" agreed Nya. "That narrows it down lots!"

"Okay, so we know to look in pet stores, but there's still got to be something like thirty of them just in the city alone," said Jay. "If we're going to do this, we should get going now."

Zane readjusted his grip on the wicker basket that held the Kitten of Doom as he looked to the others. "What are the groups going to be?"

Everyone stared at Zane for a moment. Then Jay decided to pipe up.

"Yeah . . . how about you pair off with, um, PIXAL and the falcon?" There was a hint of a smirk on Jay's face; he obviously meant it as a joke, but it didn't feel like one to Zane.

"Oh . . . okay . . ." the nindroid replied.

"Maybe we should send someone else along too, though," said Cole. "PIXAL can't search anywhere Zane isn't already looking, and between the falcon and the kitten, Zane's gonna have his hands full."

"Well sorry, but I'm not going anywhere the kitten's going." Nya sneezed again. "Ugh. You know what, I'm getting out of range of this cat."

As Nya wandered off, an awkward silence fell.

"Soooooo . . . " said Kai. "How about Lloyd goes?"

"Hey, what's with volunteering me?"

Zane didn't really know what to say, and just stood there awkwardly, falcon on his shoulder and holding a kitten in a box. He glanced at Lloyd and shrugged.

Jay thought about making another joke (maybe a crack about Schrodinger's cat?), but he decided not to, after the last one had backfired so badly. "I'll just . . . go with Nya," he said, and tried to make a break for it.

"Woah, woah, hold on a sec," said Cole, catching Jay by the back of the shirt. "You're not getting out of it that easy. We'll just have to settle kitten patrol democratically."

Jay made a strangled sound as the collar of his shirt caught against his throat. "Hey," he grumbled, coughing once he was freed, "be careful. I'd rather not be mute again because of you!"

Just then Nya came charging back up the hall.

"You guys!" she called. "I just phoned up a bunch of pet stores in Ninjago City, and one of them has a puppy that matches the description exactly!"

"Woah. That was easier than expected," said Kai.

"Takes a girl to think these things through. Now quick!" Nya sneezed. "To the pet shop!"


	3. Chapter 3

Sunday again! Y'all know what that means! Here's chapter 3, now read it! :P

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Zane looked ready to go, but then he stopped, a look of mild confusion crossing his face. "Um . . . which pet shop? I think knowing where we're going might help."

"Just follow me!" said Nya. "It's near the edge of town, we should be able to get there pretty fast."

"You are not taking the Kitten of Doom into account," said Wu. "If we must travel with the kitten to get there, we must be prepared for various trials and misfortunes on the way."

Cole looked out the window. It was still raining Violet-Berry Soup.

"Well, let's start by bringing an umbrella."

"Do we have to travel with the kitten, though?" asked Jay. "If Nya's coming along, we don't need her sneezing herself off a dragon, or something. There's no reason why we couldn't go get the puppy and bring it back here, is there?"

It was at this moment that the kitten, who had up until now been silent, decided to let out a disgruntled howl from within its wicker cage. Sensei Wu's hat burst into flames. Wu blinked. "Hmm." He calmly removed his hat and set it on the floor before proceeding to pour tea on it to quench the flames.

"You know," said Lloyd. "Not traveling with the kitten is starting to look like a really good idea."

"Right, so then we'll go to the pet store and bring back the puppy!" said Cole. "Zane, think you could take the kitten out into the woods a bit or something? I'm scared the Bounty's gonna get destroyed if it stays in here much longer."

The kitten, still thrashing about irately, hissed in the general direction of the falcon. A plague of rats suddenly tore through the Bounty, forcing everyone to jump onto something for safety, then disappeared just as fast as it had come.

"Uhhhh, yeah, seriously, please take the kitten outside," said Cole, hastily chivvying Zane towards the door. "We'll find you when we get back with the puppy, okay?"

"All right, Cole," Zane replied. "I will see you when you return." With that, he headed outside, summoned his dragon and flew off into the woods with the kitten, the falcon flying along beside him.

"Huh, how about that," said Jay.

"How about what?" Kai fixed Jay with a curious look.

"Looks like he ended up pairing off with PIXAL and the falcon after all."

Cole sighed, scruffing back his hair.

"Ohhhhhkay. Now for that puppy, before the forest burns down or something."

"I'll go!" said Lloyd.

"Need someone to go with you?"

"Nahhh. How much trouble can one puppy be?"

"Well, considering how the kitten turned out . . . " said Cole.

"Point taken."

"Well, Nya kinda has to go, too, since she's the only one who knows which pet store it is," Jay pointed out.

X X X

Once Zane hoped he'd flown far enough out into the woods that the kittens' powers would be unable to reach any inhabited areas, he landed his dragon and dismounted before letting it dematerialize. The falcon chose to perch in a tree nearby as Zane stood there for a moment, holding the box that still contained the kitten. Then he let out a sigh and allowed his shoulders slump.

"Zane?" It was PIXAL.

"Yes?" he replied aloud. He never really worried about anyone overhearing their conversations, since anyone listening would only get the one half, anyway. However, he knew he looked a little crazy when he talked to her in public this way. There was no one around to judge, though, so he didn't bother to even try to hide it.

"I know that this situation has you feeling some distress, but please do not forget that I am here with you. If there is a way I could help, just let me know."

"Thank you, PIXAL. I don't think there's much either of us can do at the moment, but the company is appreciated."

With that, he set the kitten box on the ground and sat down, leaning against a tree before retreating into his head to talk with PIXAL.

X X X

Meanwhile, the others were venturing into New Ninjago City, led by Nya. They witnessed some strange things on the way, probably caused by the kitten's presence before Zane found it. There was a lamppost tied up into a knot, and a fire hydrant that had burst its valve and was spewing what seemed to be grape juice into the street.

"Yikes. If this is what the kitten does, we'd better hurry," said Cole.

"The pet shop should be right here!" called Nya, skirting a spreading puddle of grape juice and plowing off down an avenue.

"You know," said Jay as he looked about at the destruction, "you'd think Zane would have noticed this mess when he rescued that kitten in the first place."

"Unless . . ." Kai started, but then he trailed off.

"Unless what?"

"No, never mind. It's stupid. I mean, that cat wouldn't have the capacity to target him, right?"

"It might," said Nya. "Maybe it sensed that Zane was a kind-hearted animal lover, and thus a perfect target."

"I'm starting to wonder if we should have left him alone with that thing . . . " said Cole.

"Well, not really alone, technically," said Lloyd. "With PIXAL and the falcon."

"Either way, we won't have to worry much longer," said Nya. "There's the pet shop!"

"Oh yeah, like PIXAL's gonna be much help against that kitten," Jay muttered under his breath. Out loud, he said, "Great! Let's get this mutt and get the heck out of here!"

"I hate to say it, but I have to agree with Jay on this one," said Kai. "Seriously, this whole situation is kind of unsettling. The sooner it's resolved, the better."

Nya was already bolting into the shop, setting off the tinkling bell above the door.

"We'd like to buy that puppy, please!" she said breathlessly, pointing.

"That one?" The shop owner shook his head. "I'm sorry, that one's already reserved. Maybe I could interest you in a different one? They all have wonderful personalities!"

"No, you don't understand," said Cole. "The fate of the world depends on this puppy!"

"Excuse me?"

"No time to explain. Just please, let us buy it!" urged Nya. "Or at least temporarily take it! We'll bring it right back."

The shop owner rubbed his chin, looking perplexed and undecided. Kai eyed the puppy in question, clearly wondering if it would be feasible to just grab the whelp and run.

"Aw, crud," said Jay. "You called ahead to ask if they had the puppy, but you didn't think to ask if it was already sold, did you?"

"I thought you were the future owners coming to pick him up," said the shop owner, looking more and more perplexed. "I thought it was a little strange, you weren't supposed to pick him up until next Friday."

"So the owners won't be here until then? Well then, we can take the puppy for just a few hours and bring it right back, and they won't even know he was out of the shop!" said Nya. "Come on, we promise we'll bring him back!"

"Yeah, come on, you can trust us," said Kai. "We're ninja!"

"I don't know about this . . . " groaned the shop owner, still looking unconvinced.

Nya started to pace, chewing her lip in thought.

"What if we left something as collateral? To prove we'll bring the puppy back?"

"But we don't have anything," said Kai. "Do we?"

"We could leave Lloyd," suggested Cole.

"Yeah!" agreed Jay, throwing his arm around Lloyd's shoulders, a ridiculous grin plastered across his face. "He'd make a great replacement puppy if, for whatever reason, we don't come back." He started to jokingly scratch Lloyd behind the ears, as he adopted the tone people tend to use while talking to animals or little babies. "Wouldn't you, now? Yes, you would!"

"If I'm supposed to be a dog," said an unamused Lloyd, "does that mean I get to bite him?"

"Go right ahead," said Cole graciously.

"Hey, no!" Jay jumped back from Lloyd, raising his arms defensively. "No biting the blue ninja! Bad dog!"

"Settle down, you guys," sighed Nya. "Sir, how about this: one of us will stay here until the others come back with the puppy. If they don't come back, whoever stays can help you run the shop for the day, or help out any other way you like, for free."

The shop owner raised an eyebrow at Jay before turning his attention back to Nya. With a sigh, he ran a hand across his face. "I really shouldn't, but okay. You can borrow the puppy. However," he added before the ninja had any chance to celebrate, "if you don't bring the puppy back, you'll be the ones to explain to the folks who bought it. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" said Nya hastily, before the man could change his mind. "We'll be right back, sir!"

Cole went over to scoop the puppy from the window display, holding it away somewhat when it tried to lick his face. Meanwhile Lloyd, disgruntled but resigned, plunked down on a bench near the counter to wait until the others returned.

"We'll bring you some of those nice bone-shaped biscuits when we get back." Kai patted him on the head solemnly. "Be good until then, okay Fluffy?"

Lloyd gave a very convincing growl.

"Wayyyyyy to show the pet shop owner we're responsible people, guys," muttered Nya as they headed out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Hmm...nope, can't really think of anything to say other than welcome to all the new readers! Hope you enjoy this chapter, too. :)

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

"So now that we have the puppy, what are we supposed to do with it again?" asked Jay. "Just . . . put it with the kitten, and all our problems are solved?"

"It's a start, anyway," replied Nya. "I guess we'll just have to figure it out as we go along. Anyway, Zane is waiting for us, so we should get going."

They flew hastily back to the Bounty; Zane was not on the ship, but there was a column of pink smoke rising from the distant woods.

"I think he's that way," said Cole.

Jay raised an eyebrow. "You sure that's Zane? Shouldn't it be white?" He glanced at Cole. "Unless someone thought they were being funny again." He paused for a second as something occurred to him. "But if it is Zane, shouldn't he only be setting it off if it's an emergency?"

Everyone exchanged looks.

"We should probably hurry," said Kai.

"Well, at least we'll find him fast!" said Cole. They hastily summoned their dragons and headed in that direction.

"Woah. I think that kitten has been meowing a lot while we were away," said Kai, peering down at the forest.

"Does anyone see Zane?" asked Jay, once they reached the smoke signal's location. One particular spot of destruction caught the blue ninja's eye and he flew down lower to investigate. Clear glass coated several tree branches, making for a rather spectacular display. He let his dragon dissipate and dropped to the forest floor when he spotted the falcon. The robot bird was also encased in glass.

As Jay set about breaking the falcon free from its prison, Kai dropped down beside him and began searching the area, as well. It didn't take him long to find the wicker basket the kitten had been in. It was overturned, the rope that once tied it shut frayed and broken. "Well, that can't be good," he muttered. "Zane! Hey, Zane, where are you!"

There was the sound of shattering glass followed by an angry screech as Jay finally freed the falcon. Jay followed it as it flew into the woods, leading him to Zane. The nindroid was sprawled on the ground. He didn't seem damaged, but he was unresponsive, just the same. "Zane!"

"At least he's not coated in glass too. That'd probably be more than we could remove." Kai shook the Nindroid's shoulder lightly, hoping to rouse him. "Wake up, Zane, come on . . . "

"What about all those switches he has?" suggested Cole. "Jay, you're most familiar with his insides. Does he have a power switch?"

"Yeah, let me check that . . ." replied Jay. The falcon shuffled about anxiously nearby as Jay poked around inside Zane. In a moment, he let out a relieved sigh. "His power switch is on, but I think it's just a couple loose wires. And here we go . . ."

Soon, Zane was sitting up, blinking. "W-what?" He looked around at the others, and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, hello." The falcon flew onto his shoulder, glad to see him up and running again.

The puppy squirmed impatiently in Cole's arms as the others backed up to give Zane some room.

"Are you okay?" asked Kai. "What happened?"

"The kitten managed to free herself from the basket. The falcon and I tried to recapture her but . . . well, you've seen how well that turned out." Zane stood, but wouldn't meet Kai's, or anyone's, eyes. "I apologize. I have made the situation worse by allowing the kitten to escape."

"Heyyyy, don't worry about it," said Cole, putting a hand on Zane's shoulder. "You did your best. We're just glad you're all right."

Zane smiled, inclining his head slightly to Cole. "Thank you."

"What do we do about the kitten, though?" said Kai. "It must be out there somewhere!"

"Well, one thing we can do is follow the trail of glass and destruction," said Cole drily. "But we also have an ace up our sleeves. What better way to track a cat than with a dog?"

He set the puppy down and held out the empty basket, encouraging the dog to sniff at the inside. The puppy tilted its head curiously, whimpering.

"That's it, little guy. Find the kitty," coaxed Cole.

Jay watched the puppy as it wandered about the area, sniffing around. "Are you sure this is going to work, Cole? Don't dogs need to be trained for this kind of tracking?"

The puppy stopped, sniffing intently at a tree for several moments. Then it turned slightly, and lifted its back leg. Jay groaned.

"Yeah, good job, puppy. Great tracking job." The sarcasm was thick in Jay's voice as the blue ninja rolled his eyes.

"No, wait. Jay, look," said Zane. Now that the puppy was done with its bathroom break, it went back to sniffing the ground, obviously following something.

"It's probably just tracking a squirrel or something," said Kai, rolling his eyes. "Or a dead badger."

"Tracking a dead badger?" Cole gave him an odd look.

"Or an undead one, whatever."

Just then the puppy gave a shrill bark and leaped off into the trees, running in pursuit of whatever it smelled.

"We'd better keep it in sight!" called Cole, chasing after it.

"What's the rush? I bet zombie badgers aren't all that fast," muttered Kai, but followed along with the others anyway.

"Don't lose that puppy or we'll never get Lloyd back!" called Jay as he, too, joined in the mad dash through the woods.

Zane was about to follow when he stopped short, realizing what Jay had just said. "Wait, what?" He ran to catch up to the others, still confused. "What has happened to Lloyd?"

"The guy at the pet shop didn't want to give us the puppy, so we needed collateral to prove we'd bring it back," said Kai. "So we kinda, uh, left Lloyd there." He considered. "Yeahhhhh, we probably want to keep a close eye on that puppy."

"You guys!" Cole shouted from the distance. "It's trying to climb down a hole, and I dunno if we should let it! Where does this even lead to?"

"I don't believe cats are burrowing animals," said Zane, as he headed towards Cole's voice. "Though it is possible the kitten may have taken refuge inside. Just how big is this hole?"

"Hey, Kai," Jay said with a laugh, "maybe we are tracking a zombie badger!"

"You know, with the things that kitten causes to happen, a zombie-badger apocalypse wouldn't be that surprising," said Kai. "What do you think happens when you get bitten by a zombie badger? Do you turn into a zombie, or a badger, or a zombie badger?"

"That would be so AWESOME!" exclaimed Jay. "Especially if you become a human sized zombie badger! . . . Is it sad that I want that to be a thing now?"

"Could really use some help over here!" Cole called. "There is definitely something angry down in this hole, but I don't know if it's the kitten or not."

Zane was the first to reach Cole, while ignoring the ridiculous conversation his friends were having. The puppy had its head stuck down a hole in the ground while its front paws frantically scraped dirt away as it tried to make the hole big enough to fit down. Something inside was hissing.

Zane cocked his head. "I . . . am not sure what is making that noise, but it might be a good idea to get the puppy away from there, so it doesn't get hurt. Especially if we need to return it to get Lloyd back."

"My thoughts exactly," said Cole, hauling the puppy back as it yelped in protest. "Zane, I hate to ask, but do you think you could stick your arm down there and drag whatever-it-is out? I mean, you'd probably be immune to . . . well let's even say a zombie badger. Right?"

"And you've handled the kitten without getting hurt before, too, so you're probably fine," added Nya. "Just be careful, okay?"

"That is most likely true. It would take considerable jaw strength to bite through my exoskeleton. Very well, then." Zane knelt down by the hole and reached his arm in.

Jay nudged Kai and stage whispered, "Robot zombie badgers."

"Jay!" Cole whapped him on the back of the head. "You're gonna scare him."

"Yow!" Jay staggered forward from the force of the smack and raised a hand to rub at his head afterward. "Come on, I was just joking! Besides, I doubt Zane is really worried about zombie badgers, right Zane?"

"It is highly unlikely that zombie badgers exist, even with the kitten's power," replied the nindroid. He continued to dig around in the hole as whatever was inside it growled and scuffled about, apparently trying to avoid his hand. "Whatever this creature is, it is definitely furry, though. And it really does not want to be caught."

"Try making your hand play dead," suggested Cole. He spread his hands at the others' strange looks. "I'm serious, it could work! Let it lie still for a minute, and then the kitten or whatever-it-is will think it's killed it and will try to investigate. Then you can grab it fast."

"I don't know if kittens and other furry critters follow the standard rules of horror movies, Cole," said Kai.

"Well, it's worth a try, at least, since just grabbing at it obviously isn't working," replied Zane. He relaxed his hand, going still in an attempt to coax the creature into a false sense of security.

Everyone went quiet, waiting for something to happen with varying degrees of patience. Several minutes later, Zane finally made his move. There was a short scuffle, and then he was smiling.

"There, got it."

"Well? Pull it out, then!" said Jay.

Zane gave a gentle tug and frowned. "Um . . . it's digging in when I pull. With the grip I've got on it, if I pull too hard, I could hurt it. I don't wish to do that, kitten or not. Any suggestions?"

"Uhm, maybe you could keep a hold on it," said Cole, scratching his head, "and then you could sort of wiggle it up and down or something, and then—"

Kai lost patience.

"Lemme," he said, pushing his way up to the front. Crouching next to Zane, he poked his hand in next to the Nindroid's. "Okay, I'm gonna get it to stop digging in. Get ready to pull it out the second it lets go, Zane!"

"Uh, Kai, what are you—" Nya didn't have time to finish before Kai sent a burst of flame shooting down the small tunnel. An indignant yowl emanated from within.

"Kai!" said Nya, aghast.

"I know what I'm doing, the little monster'll be fine," said Kai, waving confidently. "I'm just startling it into letting go."

Unfortunately for Kai, he also startled Zane into letting go. Whatever he had expected the fire ninja to do, this certainly wasn't it.

Seconds later, the kitten came shooting out of the hole, clambered up Zane's gi and jumped onto his head where it proceeded to circle around, hissing and spitting, eyes wild. Zane froze.

"Someone grab it before it runs off again!" yelled Jay. He would have done it himself, but he was standing several feet away, and wasn't sure he could make it over before the cat decided to hightail it.

"Rrargh!" Determined to keep the kitten in their possession, Cole tackled an unsuspecting Zane to the ground and snatched the kitten. Ignoring its hissing, flailing, and scratching, he tucked it firmly under his arm like a football. The puppy started to bark furiously at the kitten, who directed all her irate attention towards the dog immediately.

"Phew," muttered Cole. Then he glanced sheepishly down to the Nindroid still pinned beneath him. "Heh . . . sorry about that Zane. Are you okay?"

"I believe so . . ." replied Zane. He didn't really know what to make of the situation. "It is probably a good thing that the kitten chose to climb on my head, and not someone else's, though."


	5. Chapter 5

Here, have this. :)

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

"So, we have the kitten and the puppy now. What do we do? Just . . . put them together or something?" asked Jay. He regarded the way the two animals were reacting to each other and frowned. "That doesn't really seem like a good idea."

"We do kinda want this puppy in one piece," agreed Cole, shifting the kitten away slightly as it swiped angrily with its claws. "Say, how does that figure into the deal? If we bring the puppy back like we promised, but it's all beaten-up, does Lloyd have to get beaten up?"

"Hopefully he'll just have to work a half-day at the pet shop, or something," said Nya. "Let's try not to find out."

Meanwhile the puppy snarled and suddenly made a small puppy-ish leap, pouncing at the kitten before Cole could react. The dog's front paw batted against the kitten's shoulder, and both animals yelped in surprise as a small burst of white light shot up where their bodies touched.

"Whoa, what was THAT?" exclaimed Jay, eyes wide. "Do it again, Cole!"

"It looks like the solution may very well be as simple as letting the two animals touch," said Zane. He paused for a moment. "Um . . . Cole, would you mind letting me up, now?"

"That would probably be a good idea," said Cole, scrambling up hastily and offering the Nindroid a hand. "All right, so, let's do this!" He eyed the puppy uneasily. "Judging by the amount of flashing, I'm not sure I wanna be holding this little guy when things start happening."

"Just put him down and let 'em go at each other, then," said Kai.

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Really, Kai? Just let them fight it out? Is that your answer to everything?"

Now that Zane was standing, he took a moment to take stock of the situation. "Um . . ." he began, but trailed off, cocking his head slightly. He seemed to be discussing something with PIXAL. After a moment, he spoke again. "If it is a question of safety, perhaps I could hold one or both of the animals? It is unlikely that a little flashing light would cause me damage. PIXAL is against it, but figured perhaps I should suggest it anyway. She doesn't want to see any harm come to the animals, either."

"I'm a little more worried about what this flashing light is," said Cole. "Like, weird energy or something. But if you're sure you could handle it . . . "

Keeping a careful grip on the squirming puppy, he held it out to Zane.

"Be careful, okay?"

"I didn't say I was sure, just that it was unlikely to hurt me." Zane didn't seem at all confident, but he took hold of the puppy, just the same. "I will be careful, but if something goes wrong, you should be able to repair me, at least."

"Oh man, Zane! Don't SAY things like that!" moaned Jay. "Now something awful is almost definitely going to happen!"

Zane ignored Jay. He held the puppy under one arm as he waited for Cole to pass him the kitten, too. "Once I have both animals, everyone else should probably back away, just in case."

The others exchanged glances, then made no move to back off.

"We went through that whole destruction thing once before," said Cole. "If anything goes wrong this time, we're gonna be here to do something about it. Don't worry about us."

He placed the kitten into Zane's other hand, helping him get a firm grip on the squirming, mewling creature. Both animals eyed each other belligerently, evidently none too happy about the upcoming procedure.

Zane's eyebrows knit, his expression worried. "Believe me, I am not trying to destroy myself again. I would just prefer it if no one else was caught up in, for lack of a better term, the blast zone if it turns out to be worse than I expect."

"Zane, no . . ." Jay whined, slapping a hand to his face. "Stop tempting fate!" The others ignored him as he started stomping about, rambling about doom and destruction.

"Besides, it's not fair to leave you in danger while saving ourselves," said Kai. ". . . Again."

"At any rate, we're staying. I'm sure it'll be fine anyway," said Cole. "I mean, what's a little light, right? . . . Oh, calm down, Jay, I'm not tempting anything."

Jay stopped his tirade for a moment and regarded Cole with annoyed confusion. "Wha - I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to Zane! Geez!" Jay turned and took Zane by the shoulders, nearly causing the nindroid to drop the puppy. "You are not allowed to die again, you hear me? NOT ALLOWED!"

Zane watched Jay in utter befuddlement as the blue ninja let go and stormed about. "And stop talking! Every last word out of your mouth is like you're trying to call down doom and lightning bolts or something! ARGH!" After a moment of pacing back and forth, arms waving, Jay tripped on a rock and fell flat on his face. He stayed there, grumbling.

Kai glared at him, arms crossed. "Are you finished?"

Jay raised his hand in a gesture for patience, and continued to grumble a while longer. Then he lowered it. "Okay, I'm done now," he said into the dirt.

"I . . . I suppose I will take that as my cue to continue," said Zane, still thoroughly nonplussed. Before anything else could happen, he brought the two animals together. There was another flash of light, more intense than the last time. Zane, kitten and puppy were quickly engulfed by it.

"Oh man, this sounds intense," groaned Kai, as a flurry of furious barking and yowling emanated from the center of the glowing light. "Zane, are you okay in there?"

Slowly the light died away. There was a scuffle, and a small furry figure leaped out of the dying glow. The ninja stared; it had four legs, but the front ones were dog legs and the back ones were cat legs. The creature had the head of a puppy and the ears and tail of a kitten. Its fur was a strangely attractive patchwork of the two previous animals' fur colors. It looked up at the ninja and gave a combination meow-bark, then scratched itself doglike with its cat foot and began to lick itself catlike with its dog head.

"Ohhhhhhh boy," said Cole at last. "This is gonna be really hard to explain to the pet shop owner."

Zane was revealed as the last of the light died away. The nindroid was down on one knee, bracing himself against the ground with one hand, while holding the other to his face. "Nng . . ."

"Zane?" Jay walked over and helped Zane stand back up. "You all right?"

"I . . . I think so . . ." Zane blinked his eyes open, surprised by the reaction he got. The others were staring at him strangely. "What?"

"Zane, your eyes!" exclaimed Jay. Then he added, "and your voice!"

"What about my voice . . ." Zane trailed off as he heard it for himself. His voice wasn't just his anymore. It was as if both he and PIXAL were speaking as one. Thinking quickly, he pulled back the sleeve of his gi, using his arm as a reflective surface to find that his eyes were now two different colours, one blue and one green. "I . . . what?"

"Ohhhh, this is not good," groaned Nya. "Now we have a fused kitten and puppy, and fused Nindroids!"

"On the bright side, at least the kitten doesn't seem to be causing doom anymore," said Kai. "Would fused Nindroids even be that bad? At least PIXAL can interact with the world a little more now."

"Depends on how the Nindroids themselves like it, I guess," said Cole. "How're you feeling, Za—uh . . . both of you?"

"I . . . no, we . . . we are unsure how to answer that question at the moment. This is all very new. And a little weird," replied the nindroids.

"I personally think it's awesome," Jay said as he pet the puppy/kitten fusion creature on the head. The animal had been alternately rubbing against his legs and jumping up on him in an attempt to lick him. "But Cole's got a point. What do we call the two of you, now?"

There was a pause. "For the time being, you can call us Pixane, if that makes things easier?"

"Pixane? Well, better than Zanal, am I right?" Jay grinned like a lunatic. Kai smacked him.

"Sounds good," said Cole. He sighed, pulling the puppycat off Jay. "Man, the messes we get into. I hope the pet store owner doesn't sue us."

"Or come up with some kind of crazy requirements to make up for losing the puppy," agreed Kai. "I mean, what would we even fuse Lloyd with?

"Oh, for Pete's sake," muttered Cole. The puppycat mewled and squirmed in his arms for a moment, then settled down resignedly, its tongue lolling.

"Let's get back to that pet shop," said Nya. "We'll come up with something to tell the shop owner on the way there."

"Maybe we'll luck out and the people who were going to adopt the dog will like . . . whatever this is and take it home instead?" Kai said, ignoring Jay's pained whining.

"It is cute, in an odd way," Pixane said, though when they said it, it was PIXAL's voice that came out louder.

"I think they might like it, yeah," said Nya, lifting the small animal's chin up to study its face. "For now, let's hope for that."


	6. Chapter 6

So, this chapter actually contains a small hint of things to come in another story I'm working on (though this story has no bearing whatsoever on that one). Eventually, I'll get around to drawing the fusion dragon properly, but until then, you can see PIXAL's side of it if you check the links in my profile. :)

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Cole tucked the puppycat more firmly under his arm and led the others out to a clearing so they could summon their dragons. Nya rode with Kai.

"Are you still going to be able to summon a dragon, uh . . . Pixane?" said Kai.

"That is a good question. We shall have to try and see," replied Pixane.

"This oughta be good," Jay said, already sitting atop his own dragon. "Man, I wish I had some popcorn."

After a brief moment of concentration, a dragon did appear to Pixane, but it wasn't Zane's usual beast. This dragon was much smaller, about the size of a horse, though around three times as long as one from muzzle to tail tip. Its face resembled that of the titanium dragon, but it had antlers sprouting from its head, and its snout had a somewhat different shape. The neck and front of the dragon's body was also built more like the titanium dragon, but it narrowed towards the back, where a tail covered in purple fluff wagged in what seemed to be delight. Its scales glittered in random patterns of white and metallic silver. It had no wings.

"Er . . ." said Pixane, right before the creature pounced on them and began showering them in dragonish affection.

"Aw geez." Nya appeared to be doing her utmost to look cool and not squeal. "That's . . . really really really cute . . . "

"Reminds me of Rocky," said Cole nostalgically.

"Well, I mean, it's cute and all," said Kai. "But will Pixane be able to get anywhere if the dragon doesn't have wings?"

It took a moment, but Pixane was finally able to shove the dragon off so they could stand back up. It continued to nuzzle at them. "Another good question. Even if it cannot fly, we can at least follow from the ground. Still, if we cannot keep up, go ahead without us. We will catch up."

With that, Pixane mounted the dragon. It immediately, and without direction from the nindroid, let out a gleeful cry and took a running leap into the air. At first, it seemed as if the dragon was simply making a long jump, but soon it became apparent that it was gliding somehow. It continued to circle around the clearing until it drifted back to the ground and then did it again. It didn't seem to be able to climb very high in the sky, though.

"Well, that's just great. It can't fly AND it can't be controlled." Jay rolled his eyes. "All those in favour of leaving them behind, say 'aye'!"

Pixane's dragon heard Jay, and came to ground once more before fixing him with a rather offended expression.

"I think you're in trouble, Jay," said Cole, grinning up his sleeve (the one that wasn't occupied with the puppycat, that is).

The dragon clumped closer, staring Jay down grimly.

"Huh. Maybe we'll get to see what kind of powers a combined dragon has," said Kai, leaning his elbows atop his own dragon's head in idle interest.

Jay eyed the dragon warily, gulping nervously. "Heh, heh, good dragon . . ." As Pixane's dragon continued to approach, despite the efforts of its rider to stop it, he decided he would be safer in the air and tried to get his own dragon to take off. It, however, had other ideas. Letting out a grunt that almost sounded like a chuckle, it bucked its rider off.

"Waaahhhh - oof!" Jay landed on his butt, right at the feet of the annoyed fusion dragon. He grinned up at it pleadingly. "Please don't eat me?"

The dragon got right up in Jay's face and barked. A frigid shock wave knocked Jay flat on his back and left icicles stuck to his face and hair.

"Geez," sighed Nya, while Cole and Kai cracked up laughing. "Not like you didn't deserve it, Jay, but we're all getting nowhere fast here. How about next time we don't bait the fusion dragon?"

Pixane's dragon, satisfied, blew a puff of cool air from its nostrils.

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Jay as he picked himself up from the ground. Wiping melting ice from his face, he walked over to where his dragon stood, waiting for him. He could have sworn the thing was grinning. "Big help you were," he groused as he remounted.

"So Pixane, if your dragon can glide a little, maybe you can sort of skim over the treetops as long as we're over the forest?" suggested Kai. "Sort've a fancy jump from tree to tree. And then on the rooftops when we reach the town."

"That is a good suggestion. We shall try," replied Pixane as they, too, remounted their dragon. "But again, if we cannot keep up, go on without us. It is not necessary for us to be present while you retrieve Lloyd, correct?"

Now that the dragon seemed to be obeying a little better, Pixane was able to get it to make a series of jumps up into the treetops. Luckily, it was light enough despite its build to not break any branches. Once they were at the top, they then signalled the others that they were ready to go.

"All righty! Keep a slow pace at first until we see how Pixane's dragon does!" called Cole, lofting his dragon into the air and angling in the direction of New Ninjago City. The puppycat squirmed under his arm, peering about with interest.

Keeping a careful pace, they soon drew within sight of the NNC skyline.

Pushing off treetops to gain speed, Pixane's dragon was able to glide surprisingly fast, managing to keep up fairly well with the other dragons.

"The pet shop's not far, now," said Jay, watching the city draw ever closer. He chuckled nervously. "Seriously, do you think that guy will take this . . . thing?"

"Well, I have a feeling he's not gonna be too happy, but I hope he still takes it," said Nya. "I mean, the deal was just that we'd help him at his shop for a while if we didn't bring the puppy back, but that wasn't even supposed to become an issue. I'd feel bad about it if we actually did break our word to him."

"And who knows," said Kai grimly. "Since we kind of bent the rules by bringing the puppy back in an . . . altered state . . . maybe he'll want to bend his end of the bargain too."

"Well, we're about to find out," said Cole, as they landed their dragons by the pet shop.

A moment later, Pixane's dragon landed lightly next to the others, having jumped down from the rooftops above. The dragon dissipated as the nindroid joined the others. "This is where Lloyd has been all this time?"

"Yup," replied Jay. He did a flamboyant bow towards the door. "After you, Cole. You're the one with the "puppy", after all."

"Geeeeee, thanks," sighed Cole, approaching the pet shop door. He pushed it open and strode resignedly through. The others followed, eager to see how this went.


	7. Chapter 7

Well, this is it. The final chapter. It's been fun, everyone. Hope you enjoyed. :)

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

"Hey, you guys!" Lloyd jumped up to greet them, shedding several kittens who had been festooning his shoulders. Evidently he had wheedled his way into the kitten play enclosure while he was waiting. "You came ba—woah! What happened to Zane?!"

"It's a long story," said Kai glumly.

"And the same thing kinda happened to the puppy," said Cole, holding up the puppycat to demonstrate.

"Wowwwww," said Lloyd, tilting his head to study the unusual creature. "That's actually pretty cool."

"I hope the future owners think so," said Nya. "Or you might be stuck here for a while."

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be so bad," said Lloyd gamely. "They have kittens."

"We just finished dealing with one kitten, Lloyd," said Kai. "No more."

Drawn by the conversation, the pet shop owner poked his head out of the back room.

"Ah, you're here," he said. "You had better have that puppy with you. The folks who want to adopt him will be here any minute now."

"What?" said Jay. "I thought you said we had until Friday!"

"I guess they changed their minds, because they just called and said they were coming. So where's the puppy?"

"Weeeelll. . . about that . . . Cole? Give him the puppy, would you?"

Meanwhile, Pixane quietly sneaked off to join Lloyd with the kittens.

"Yeah, we had some issues," sighed Cole, holding the puppycat out. It yipped amiably and wriggled in his hands. The shop owner studied it.

"Is it injured?"

"Uhhh, no, it's not hurt," said Nya hesitantly.

"Did you let it eat something poisonous?"

"No? . . . "

The ninja gave each other puzzled looks. Lloyd shook a kitten from his foot and leaned over the fence of the play area.

"He's really nearsighted!" he stage-whispered. Cole raised his eyebrows slightly in acknowledgement.

"Well, uhhh, he was just a little lively, you know? But he's fine. I guess we'll just put the little guy back in the window, then? . . . " he said. He hastily plunked the puppycat down with the regular puppies in the window (it seemed unsure if it should be delighted or terrified at this development), then pulled the others aside to huddle in the corner.

"What do we do now? Maybe the pet shop guy's none the wiser, but what about the family who's coming to pick up the puppycat?"

"Unless anyone has any ideas to split the puppy and cat back up, and that wouldn't just put us back at square one, I don't think there's anything we can do," said Jay. "Like we've been saying all along, I think we're just going to have to hope for the best."

"Perhaps, if the original owners decide they do not want the creature, we could take it in, instead?" Again, it was PIXAL's voice that came out louder with the first sentence. Pixane continued to speak, however, immediately answering their own question, this time in Zane's voice. "No, Sensei would not allow us to keep an animal on the Bounty."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that is going to get weird. . ."

"Jay," said Nya reproachfully, whapping his shoulder.

"What!? Tell me how that isn't weird!" Jay protested, rubbing at his shoulder. "And why does everyone keep hitting me today? You're all so cruel . . ."

"We might not be as cruel if you didn't keep saying jerkish stuff, Zaptrap," said Cole reproachfully. "But Pixane . . . well, I guess technically Zane . . . is right though," said Cole. "I don't think we could keep the puppycat ourselves."

"I reallllly hope the future owner likes having a chimera-thingy for a pet," sighed Nya.

"Is there something you need?" said the pet shop owner, eyeing the little huddle. He apparently assumed that they would want to be on their way, now that they'd returned the puppy.

"Oh, no, we're just, uh . . . We figured we'd stick around to see what the owner thinks of their new puppy," said Nya.

"I guess that's acceptable. Just don't loiter around too long. I am trying to run a business, here."

"Understood," replied Pixane, carefully prying a kitten out of Lloyd's hair.

"Say Jay, since everyone's being cruel to you, you can have a kitten," said Lloyd, handing him the kitten and groaning as another one promptly climbed into his hair.

Jay made a face at Cole before taking the proffered kitten. He held it to his chest and stroked it gently as it settled in and started to purr. "Okay, peace offering accepted."

Any further conversation was cut short as the door bell rang out and someone entered the store.

The presumed future owners of the puppycat came in through the door. There was a careworn-looking woman and her young—

—Several of the ninja stiffened. They recognized this kid. Several of them had gone through the travails of being his grade-school teacher.

"Brad is adopting a puppy?!" whispered Nya amazedly. "Now I've seen everything!"

A few curious gazes turned to Lloyd, as the others realized that he'd never met Brad in person since getting aged up with Tomorrow's Tea. Would they even recognize each other? Surely Brad must know about little Lloyd Garmadon now being the Green Ninja. Goodness knows he'd been in the news enough.

Lloyd, for his part, was still oblivious; he was squirming and giving little yelps of protest as Pixane continued the extraction of the kitten. It didn't help that the kitten seemed opposed to being extracted.

"C'mon Mom, you have to see this puppy, he's—" Brad froze halfway to the puppy window. ". . . Lloyd?"

Lloyd, with the kitten still partially Velcroed to his head, started and looked up.

"Oh gosh. Brad? Is that you?"

Pixane looked up, alerted by Lloyd's reaction. Zane recognized the boy from the incident with the remote back when he still taught at Wu's academy. He wasn't exactly terrified, but it wasn't a pleasant memory, just the same. PIXAL didn't really know what to make of the situation, and with the two so conflicted, they froze up, halfway through levering the kitten from Lloyd's head. The kitten took full advantage, squirming free to settle once more in Lloyd's hair.

"Yeah! But . . . is that really you, though? You're so . . . big. And . . . um, I think your robot broke."

"Huh?" Lloyd looked to Pixane, then nudged them lightly with his elbow to stir them back into the present. He gave Brad another sidelong glance. "It's, uh . . . been a while, huh?"

Pixane blinked and lowered their arms, still a little confused about what just happened. They shook it off quickly and went back to corralling kittens.

"Yeah." Brad leaned his arms on the fence of the kitten play area, looking ill at ease. "You're older."

"Come on. You knew about that, right?" said Lloyd, venturing a smile.

"Yeah," said Brad again. "But I'd never really seen you in person after that. I'd always kinda . . . I dunno, I guess I pretended that the Lloyd in the news and on TV wasn't the same Lloyd, you know? Someone else. It made it less . . . weird."

"It was sorta weird at first," admitted Lloyd. He wondered if it was different for Brad—it had already been strange enough for him and his teammates, suddenly being closer to equal ages, but maybe it was even weirder to have someone your own age suddenly become way older.

"You're not still mad or anything, right?" said Brad after a moment. Lloyd chuckled drily.

"Nah. Grew out of that."

"Phew," Brad muttered audibly.

Meanwhile Brad's mother had been watching the conversation with a degree of understanding. Lloyd gave her a nod and polite smile, and she nodded back and moved to shoo Brad towards the puppy window.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have much time right now. I have to get back to work right after this."

"Oh, sorry," said Lloyd. He finally disentangled the kitten from his hair and watched from the fence as Brad searched among the puppies. "Busy schedule, huh?"

"You could say that." Brad's mother sighed and lowered her voice. "Mostly we're getting the puppy to keep Brad company when he's home alone. I have to be at work a lot more since . . . well, his father didn't take his switching to good very well."

"Ohhhhh." Lloyd gulped.

The other ninja exchanged looks. None of them had really considered the fact that there could be consequences for turning good. Why would there be? Being good was, well, a good thing, right? None of them really knew what to say.

Meanwhile, Brad continued searching for his puppy, his expression becoming more and more confused. "What gives? My puppy isn't here . . ."

There was another round of awkward silence from the ninja. After a moment, Jay stepped forward. "Yeah, about that . . ." He walked over to the puppies and scooped up the puppycat, holding it out to the boy. "Er . . . sorry?" Jay grinned sheepishly.

"Wait . . . that's not my puppy." Brad squinted at the creature.

"Yeah, there were some . . . issues," said Cole.

Brad blinked. The puppycat whimpered and squirmed, pawing towards Brad with its stubby front legs. Finally it managed to wriggle its way to his shoulder, clinging clumsily to the front of his shirt with its back legs. Brad reflexively lifted his arms to keep the puppycat from falling, and it settled in, purring contentedly.

"This," said Brad, "is awesome."

"So you like it, then?" asked Jay. "Because I don't think we can fix it."

"And even if we could, it may end up dooming Ninjago," added Pixane.

Brad didn't really have a clue what they were talking about, but continued to pet the animal on his shoulder. "Nah, I think I'm good."

"I guess this is sorta the kind of thing he'd like," murmured Lloyd, leaning over the fence while a kitten clambered up his leg.

"Take good care of that puppycat, kiddo," said Cole. "It's the only one in the world."

Brad nodded solemnly, ruffling the puppycat's ears. He and his mother moved to the counter to pay the shop owner, the puppycat still wriggling in Brad's arms.

"Well," said Kai. "That crisis is over. That worked out unexpectedly well."

"All's well that ends well, right?" said Jay. He glanced over to Pixane, who was now prying one kitten off Lloyd's leg as yet another took to climbing the other. The kittens just didn't seem to want to leave the boy alone.

It took a moment for Pixane to notice the attention. Once they had, they straightened up, still holding the kitten, and cocked their head quizzically. "Is something the matter?"

"No, not really, I guess . . ."

"Can we just distract these critters with a laser pointer or something?" said Kai wearily. "We can't take Lloyd home with kittens attached to him."

"Especially not with my allergies," said Nya, who had been standing well away from the kittens all this time.

"One minute." Lloyd gingerly shook several kittens off his feet, then clambered quickly out of the kitten pen. Then he plucked the remaining few out of his hair, plopped them back with their littermates, and offered Pixane a hand out of the pen.

"We'll be on our way, sir," called Cole to the pet store owner.

As they headed for the door, Nya sneezed.

"Bless you," said Cole. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Nya sniffled. "Weird. Must be a delayed reaction from being in that pet store or something."

"Or maybe from standing close to Lloyd," said Cole.

"Sorry," said Lloyd, stepping aside. "I'll shower once we get . . . " He blinked as Pixane trotted by. For a second Lloyd glimpsed a tiny pair of ears twitching out of the oblivious Nindroids' back coat pocket.

". . . Oh boy."

 **The End!**


End file.
